Owen Sleater

Owen Sleater (1894-1923) was an Irish Republican Army (IRA) member and an enforcer for Nucky Thompson's Atlantic City criminal organization during Prohibition. Sleater was Thompson's right-hand man from 1921 to 1923, when he was killed during a failed hit attempt on Joe Masseria at a Turkish bath house in New York City.

Early life


Owen Sleater was born in the Protestant town of Coleraine, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland, the son of a clerk for the ironmongers. Sleater was raised in a Catholic Irish family, and he twice attempted to join the nationalist Sinn Fein political party under John McGarrigle, being rejected both times. However, Sleater became an Irish Republican Army guerrilla during the Irish War of Independence, and he was known for killing twelve Blacks and Tans in a bomb attack on a local Royal Irish Constabulary police station. Sleater gained some combat experience during the war, especially with bombs and with long-range weapons. Sleater later became McGarrigle's bodyguard, guarding him from his enemies. In 1921, he accompanied McGarrigle to the United States when he went on a fundraising tour, and McGarrigle assigned him the special mission of hunting down Sinn Fein traitor Del Grogan.

Chauffeur for Thompson
During the summer of 1921, McGarrigle met with Atlantic City political boss Enoch Thompson to discuss the sale of arms to the IRA, and McGarrigle told Thompson that Sleater would be staying in America; Thompson decided to make Sleater his driver and bodyguard. He was loyal to Thompson, and he first showed his talents as a criminal when he blew up Mickey Doyle's warehouse in central New Jersey to sabotage Jimmy Darmody's rival operation. Sleater would also help Thompson with the murders of Darmody in 1921 and Rowland Smith in 1923, although he did not kill a person in either event. Sleater was almost always either with Thompson's family at their mansion or with Thompson himself, and Sleater had a relationship with the family's maid Katy. Sleater also had romantic encounters with Thompson's wife, Margaret Schroeder (nee Rohan), herself an immigrant from Ireland, and she became pregnant with their child; the two of them planned to run away together as a result of Gyp Rosetti's war with Thompson and Margaret's dissatisfaction with Enoch Thompson. Sleater and Margaret toyed with the idea of moving to St. Louis, Missouri or of living among the Native Americans, and Sleater said that he would give a believable excuse to Katy in order to allow for him to leave.

Death
After the Babette's Supper Club bombing and the death of Thompson's mistress Billie Kent, Thompson ordered Sleater to assassinate the crime boss responsible, Joe Masseria. Sleater and corrupt Bureau of Prohibition agent Stan Sawicki both drove to a Turkish bath house, where Masseria bathed every Thursday at 9:00 PM. Sleater told Thompson that it was better if just the two of them went, as he believed that it would take patience, not more men, to succeed. Sawicki flashed his badge to distract Masseria's guards, but Sleater failed in his attempt to shoot Masseria; he was gunned down by his bodyguards. At nearly 4:00 AM the next morning, Thompson was woken up by his butler, Eddie Kessler, who informed him that he had received a delivery. Kessler pried it open as Margaret Thompson left her bedroom to investigate, and Thompson, Kessler, and Margaret were shocked to find that Sleater's body was in the crate. Margaret weeped uncontrollably, and Thompson had to restrain her when she attempted to punch him; it was then that he realized that Margaret loved Sleater.